


Entropy and Order

by goodisrelative



Category: In Plain Sight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-27
Updated: 2009-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:39:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodisrelative/pseuds/goodisrelative
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>You can use your leadership abilities to mold and manipulate others or you can use it to help shape others into their better selves.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Entropy and Order

**Author's Note:**

> This is all [](http://squeelated.livejournal.com/profile)[**squeelated**](http://squeelated.livejournal.com/)'s fault. She commented about wanting to write about "An Agent of Universal Order" and then this had to be written instead of work being done. And thanks to her it was beta'd.

  
  
  
**Entry tags:** |   
[fanfic](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/fanfic), [in plain sight](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/in+plain+sight), [in plain sight fanfic](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/in+plain+sight+fanfic)  
  
---|---  
  
_ **IPS Fic: Entropy and Order (PG)** _

Title: Entropy and Order  
Author: [](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/profile)[**goodisrelative**](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/)  
Rating: PG  
Spoilers: a tiny phrase from the end of the episode _Who Shot Jay Arnstein?_  
Characters: Marshall Mann  
Summary: _You can use your leadership abilities to mold and manipulate others or you can use it to help shape others into their better selves._

Author's Note: This is all [](http://squeelated.livejournal.com/profile)[**squeelated**](http://squeelated.livejournal.com/)'s fault. She commented about wanting to write about "An Agent of Universal Order" and then this had to be written instead of work being done. And thanks to her it was beta'd.

* * *

He was in middle school when he first realized he could talk others into doing what he wanted. But it was high school when the wickedness of youth took hold and revenge seized him, coloring his view and obscuring the dangers until too late.

The other kids saw him as this beanpole geek who always knew everything, until he'd gotten the football team to pull a prank that had cost one kid a broken arm and many others weeks in detention. Not him, of course.

He'd been sick of the teasing and hazing, the wedgies, and just everything that high school dished out on the unpopular and those that didn't quite fit in. He just wanted to get them back and hadn't, for once, thought the consequences through.

When he'd seen the ambulance, fear had struck his heart silent as his mind embraced the unproven fear that he'd gotten someone killed in his moment of weakness. The future that had been planned for him since birth, one he actually wanted, disappeared before his very eyes. His heart only started again, moments later, when the news reached his ears that it was a broken arm and not a broken neck.

Nobody at school had believed his part in the prank gone wrong ... At home it was a different story. That night, his father, having heard the news because he always knew everything, took one look into his eyes and had known the truth.

After dinner, his father had called him outside. The silence was deafening as Marshall waited for the man to speak. When the voice came, it shocked him. The words were spoken softly; he'd been expecting anger and yelling. It made it worse in his young mind.

"Son, you can cause disorder among the ranks easily as speaking words in anger and spite. Or you can help bring order with patience and thought. You can use your intelligence to help those in need – protecting them, guiding them. Or you can lead others into harm's way.

"You're a natural-born leader. We've fostered that, guiding you to the family career. But, now is the time for you to make the decision that is solely yours. You can use your leadership abilities to mold and manipulate others or you can use it to help shape others into their better selves. Do you want to bring entropy and chaos to those you meet or promote peace and order?"

His father's eyes met his at the end of these softly spoken words, and the disappointment Marshall saw in them made his decision easy. From that moment on, as he watched his father walk back into the house, he was an agent of universal order. He'd never again see the disappointment in his father's eyes.


End file.
